Title: She Could Do Better

Summary: Hiccup and Astrid are forced to get married against their wills. Astrid's never been so emotionally unstable in her life and Hiccup can't tell what's scarier: his wife-to-be and her axe or that Night Fury he's hiding in the woods.

Word Count: 3,604

Disclaimer: I do not own HTTYD

...

1. They Find Out

Hiccup yawned and rubbed his eyes tiredly as he trudged back to his house. It'd been a long day; he started off by waking up early because his dad wanted him to fix a hole in the roof that'd been forgotten from the last dragon raid, and he fell off the ladder twice and smashed most of his fingers while attempting to use a hammer. Then he hobbled into the forge and spent a few hours making and sharpening weapons before sneaking off to the back room to work on the design for his new dragon-trapping invention which, once he made a few tweaks, he had a good feeling would actually catch a dragon this time. But the machine was very sensitive and he ended up having to untangle himself from bolas at least seven times. Probably more, but he'd hit his head too many times to remember- so many, in fact, that by the time he gave up, he realized that he hadn't eaten all day, and the Great Hall was closed for the night.

So here he was, bruised and hungry and miserable, and when he opened the front door and heard his father humming happily as he stoked the fire, he figured it was about to get worse.

"Evenin' son," Stoick sang happily, dropping the stoke and sitting down in his chair.

Hiccup stared at him and tried to smile, but it came out more as a grimace. "Hey... Dad."

He motioned to the chair beside his, smile still plastered on his hairy face. "Sit down, I want to have a chat with you."

"Oh, uh," Hiccup grasped for an excuse, "I'd love to talk but I've had a really long day and could really use-"

"It will only take a few minutes, and then you can get back to whatever it is you do in that room of yours." Stoick laughed heartily, but for the life of him Hiccup couldn't understand what was so funny.

"He he, yeah." Hiccup scratched the back of his head before sighing. He traipsed over to the seat by the fire, stumbling slightly as his father thrust a cup of hot tea into his hands.

He was about to let out an insincere 'thank you,' but Stoick wasted no time. "So how do you like that friend of yours, the Hofferson girl?"

Hiccup fought the overwhelming urge to spit his tea out all over the place. He gulped heavily and his breath shook as his head became dizzy. There must've been some rule somewhere that reiterated the fact that the words 'Hofferson' and 'friend' were not allowed to be used together in the same sentence when talking about Hiccup. He looked back at Stoick incredulously, wondering if he was pulling his leg, but the older man just sat forward with with bated breath. Either his father really was that oblivious, or he was aware that Hiccup and Astrid had never had an actual conversation with each other but didn't want to acknowledge his son's incapacity to make friends any more than he wanted to admit that he and Hiccup shared the same blood. He didn't know which one was more offensive.

Hiccup shifted, trying to come up with a reply. I don't know, she's fast. She's fierce. She's aggressive. She's stunning. She's strong. She's everything you hoped I would be since the day I was born. "She's nice."

Stoick beamed. "Fantastic! Then I suppose we won't have a problem."

He shifted again. "Why might we have a problem...?"

His father just chuckled and handed over a folded piece of paper. Hiccup looked between the paper in his hand and the unnervingly excited man before him before he set down his tea, unfolded the paper and stared at the page.

It only took him two seconds to realize that the runes on the top of the page spelled out 'Marriage Contract,' and his heartbeat screeched to a halt. The dizzying in his head became blurringly fast and he could barely make out his and Astrid's names and a few pretty official looking signatures on the bottom. He probably would've dropped it in the fire had Stoick not mistaken his shock for one of excitement and gently taken the paper from his hands. "That's why I asked you fix the roof this morning, so I could go to the Hoffersons' and seal the deal. Isn't this great? Your future has hope yet!"

Hiccup's throat constricted and he blinked rapidly as he looked down at his bandaged hands from that morning, which were now clenching and unclenching into fists in anxiety. His mind was on overdrive. Astrid- him- he- they- what-

Astrid- Astrid Hofferson was going to be his wife and-

So sure he might've wanted to marry her one day because she was pretty and awesome a much better option than Ruffnut but it wasn't really that realistic because she wasn't particularly nice to anyone and how the Hel was he supposed to marry someone who had never even looked him in the eyes throughout their entire fifteen years of life, except maybe sometimes when she went to the forge to get her axe sharpened every few days because she just wore it out that much, and he really thought that he would have had the time to eventually get over her but now they were getting married and he was going to die and his father had the freaking audacity to sit there and laugh and-

He tried to speak. "Hhrrrmphllk."

Stoick laughed, clearly not paying any attention to Hiccup's fearful eyes whatsoever. "That's my boy! Now go along to bed, it's getting late."

Before he knew it, Hiccup was getting hoisted to his feet and handed back his cup of tea. He resisted the inordinate urge to pour the scalding hot sand-water all over his father's stupid red beard-face and climbed up the stairs with an acutely distinct aura of defeat that- of course- went straight over his father's gleeful head and right up to the cackling gods in Valhalla.

He really wasn't all that tired anymore.

Astrid walked down the steps the next morning, her familiar axe swinging from her hand. Her boots hit the bottom with a muffled 'thud' and she was about to head out the door to breakfast when her mother looked up from the fireplace. Many people said Astrid looked like a younger, happier version of Ingrid Hofferson, whose golden hair was getting duller by the day and whose eyes never seemed to ever be fully alight. Astrid could never see it, partially because she didn't really like being related to anything with or about her mother, but she had to say that the firelight make Ingrid's face glow pleasantly and it took years off her features. "Oh, going so soon?"

The younger girl looked over her shoulder, her braid swishing across her back. "I'm late for breakfast."

"Can breakfast wait for a few more moments?" Ingrid looked at her almost intensely. "I need... to talk to you about something."

The foreign hint of anxiety in her mother's voice caught Astrid off guard. "Um..."

"Please, doll, it's urgent."

Astrid hadn't heard her mother call her 'doll' since her father died. She blinked, racking her brain for what could possibly be so important, but coming up with nothing of value. She rubbed a hand to her head. "Are you sure it can't wait?"

Ingrid opened her mouth to say something, but the intensity in her gaze crumbled and she gave her daughter a weak smile. "I suppose it can wait until bedtime..."

"I'll see you then," Astrid promised, giving a false grin before rushing out of the house and slamming the door behind her. She didn't see her mother collapse into her chair by the fire and pull out the small sack of money that held as much weight in her hand as it did in her heart, nor did her mother see the novel look of confusion that clouded her daughter's face as she walked to the Hall.

...

"Oh, hey Astrid," Fishlegs chimed as the Hofferson girl sat down across from him, next to Ruffnut. "We were wondering when you'd get here."

"Hey Fishlegs," she greeted calmly, placing down her plate. She felt like she should be worrying about her mother more but when she looked down at her food she decided to put her thoughts away for the time being.

Snotlout picked up his mug and took a drink. "Do you want to come with us to the beach later? We were gonna go spar and chill out, maybe take a dip in the water..." He winked at her and that stupid shit-eating grin spread across his face. The twins made exaggerated gagging noises and he whipped his head towards them. "Shut up. You're just jealous that what we have is special."

Astrid glanced outside. In truth it was a nicer day than they'd been having recently- not to say that it wasn't still cold outside- but it had gone from freezing to reasonably chilly. It wouldn't be a bad day to spend by the ocean.

"I'll go," she sighed, and Snotlout's entire face lit up enough to rival the sun- clearly not expecting her to agree. "But I'm keeping my clothes on. And you are too or so help me." His face fell a few notches but he was nonetheless pleased.

Ruffnut turned to her. "Do you wanna spar with me first? My parents got me an extra cool hammer as an early birthday present and I can't wait to whip your axe-swinging ass."

Astrid rolled her eyes and took a bite of her food. "I'd like to see you try."

She picked her friend's axe up off the table. "Please, this thing's so dull, I could beat you one handed."

Tuffnut snagged the axe from his sister's hands and twirled the weapon around in his hand. "Ha ha, I couldn't cut through mutton with this thing."

Astrid wrenched it from his hand and thwacked him in the head. "If it's so dull, you wouldn't mind letting me test it out, would you?"

He squeaked. "Actually, it looks sharp. Really really sharp. So sharp, in fact, that you should probably put it away, so no one accidentally cuts themself on it, or something."

Ruffnut sniggered. "Yes. Accidentally."

A few minutes later, the others were finished eating and anxious to run down to the beach. Astrid told them to go ahead without her while she finished, and they bid her goodbye before shoving each other to reach the doors first. She took her time finishing her meal and putting her plate away before walking out of the almost-empty Hall by herself.

The walk to the beach wasn't very long. She just had to walk down the street, past the bakery and armory and make a left at the forge-

She froze outside the forge and glanced down at her axe before looking up at the barn. Her axe really was looking dull, and she realized that it'd been more than a few days since her last sharpening and one was long overdue. Her friends wouldn't miss her if she was gone a few minutes longer.

Astrid looked at the closed shutters of the booth and dropped her axe, letting it clatter on the counter noisily. She heard a loud 'bang' followed by a cry of pain and a few muffled noises before the shutters flew open. Hiccup had his head down and was sorely rubbing his scalp. He glanced up and looked at her almost passively before looking down again. Then he went stark still and looked up at her wildly, gaping like a fish.

For the second time that day, Astrid was caught off guard. She had never seen Hiccup look at her so alarmedly, and she immediately took it offensively. "I'd appreciate it if I could get my axe sharpened without getting stared at like I'm a freaking dragon."

Hiccup blinked and then snapped out of that trance or whatever he was in. His cheeks blushed as dark as his auburn hair and he cowered in on himself. "Aah, um- ther- uh- uh. Sharpen. Yes. Um."

Astrid just stared and Hiccup cowered even further. When his eyes darted down to the axe on the table, his brows furrowed slightly in confusion and he looked up at her warily. She kept staring at him apathetically, but her tone was much more accusing. "What?"

Instead of cowering away again, he just kept staring at her, almost incredulously so, his green eyes completely devoid of any guilt or embarrassment that they'd housed just seconds prior. Astrid was ready to just up and leave, deciding she'd fulfilled her due quota of interactions with the chief's son for the next couple of years before he startlingly slapped one hand around the handle and slowly pulled the axe towards himself, never daring to break eye contact. It was as if he expected her to leap over the counter, grab her weapon and bash him senseless until she could reach into his dead body and skip rope with his intestines. Very quickly beginning to regret ever coming here in the first place, Astrid's eye twitched- a tick usually reserved for the twins and Snotlout- and Hiccup, unprepared for a threatening advance of such magnitude, leapt seven feet in the air before snatching the axe to his body with wide eyes and scurrying to the whetstone.

Astrid crossed her arms over her chest impatiently, exhaling through her nose with more force than necessary. Usually she could handle Hiccup's stupidity- his sarcasm and screw-ups and whatnots- but this- whatever it was- was too much. He didn't look at her as he turned the wheel and watched out for stray sparks, seemingly milking as much time as he could to stall having to face her again. Finally he stopped sharpening and, almost as if he were in a dream, handed it out to her. Astrid snatched it from his hands with a glare and, without so much as a 'thank you,' marched off with her head held higher than her hope in Hiccup would ever be.

Looking numbly at her departing figure, Hiccup crumpled and slid down to the dirty stone floor of the forge, caressing his head in his hands as he waited for his temporary relief to guide his poor heart from his throat back into his chest.

She doesn't know. She has no idea.

...

Astrid returned home from the beach with a newfound sense of tranquility. Her earlier frustration had left her body along with the waves on the beach as she sparred with Ruffnut (and won- but really, no one should have been surprised), ignored Snotlout, let Fishlegs talk about some book he read, and looked away from Tuffnut as he ran into the water naked (but really, no one should have been surprised). She also managed to peel away and get a good hour or two of axe-throwing before returning to the beach to enjoy the last rays of sunlight.

As she walked up to her house, she could see that her mother was sitting by the window, waiting for her arrival. Her pace slowed and the scowl returned to her face. She walked slowly up the creaky porch steps and stood in front of the door for a few seconds before pushing it open.

Her mother was on her feet instantly and was in front of Astrid before she even closed the door. Astrid was used to her mother being overbearing, but something was wrong now.

"How was your day?" Ingrid asked nervously, but from the sound of her voice it seemed like she was stalling.

"Mom, what's wrong?" Astrid demanded.

"Wrong? Nothing's wrong." Her daughter crossed her arms over her chest. She sighed. "I think we should sit down."

Astrid slowly sat across from her fidgeting mother. She had never seen her mother so nervous to tell her something, even when she sat Astrid down a few years ago to tell her that her father was gone. Astrid didn't like the fact that she was associating this level of visible fear with something as bad as or worse than the death of her father.

Ingrid clasped her hands together in her lap. They had a very slight tremor. "Astrid, doll, you know that things have been rough for us ever since your father passed..."

Again with that nickname. Astrid still didn't like where this was going, especially now that her mother was bringing their financial stability into it. She knew that they were definitely worse for wear than most families, but it was only the two of them, and there was no such thing as a rich Viking.

"...and I'm so grateful to have a daughter as resourceful as you. We've already managed three years by ourselves. But, now..."

She shifted. "Now what?"

Ingrid exhaled. "We're sunk, Astrid. We have been for a few months, and I tried to keep it from you, hoping that maybe I could make it better, but it's only been going downhill and it's reached a point where I've had to make decisions while I still can."

Astrid was silent for a moment. She should be worrying about how her mother had just told her that they were bankrupt and it was basically her fault, but... but something wasn't adding up. "...Decisions?"

Her mother closed her eyes, looking as if she felt ill. "You're just a child, but you have so much potential. You should hear the way the adults exalt you. I could never be more proud to call you my daughter, and it's only fair that someone as gifted as you would get an equally gifted future. One that, unfortunately, I can no longer provide for you unless I get help."

She looked down at her boots. They were still covered in sand and she realized subconsciously through her slowly and inevitably building panic that she forgot to stomp them out before walking in the house. "I'm not following."

The woman was silent for a few minutes. Then Astrid heard her reach behind her and pull out something that made a series of muffled clinking noises. She looked up and saw her mother holding a dark purple sack the size of her palm with a brown drawstring. Ingrid tossed it to her and she caught it effortlessly before pulling it open and looking inside. It was gold, and a lot of it. She wondered what this could possibly mean, but when she looked up her mother had tears in her eyes, and after a few moments of recalling her mother's words and staring at the large sum of money, she suddenly knew.

The sack tumbled from Astrid's hands and a few coins spilled out onto the floor. Her eyes were wide and suddenly the whole room went as cold as ice. She scrambled to her feet, digging her fingers into her scalp and pulling her hair as she tried to remember how to breathe.

"Who?" she gasped, her body shaking. "Who?!"

Ingrid pulled her limbs in closer, making herself seem that much smaller. Her answer came out so quiet she almost didn't hear, but there was no mistaking it. "Hiccup."

Astrid's hands dropped from her head and fell limply at her sides. She stared blankly at her mother as she tried to explain. "Stoick knew that our situation was dire and he came up with the idea of a marriage. He was willing to exchange a copious bride price for very little dowry in return and once you're married you'll have an amazing future set out for you. It's a better bargain than I could have ever hoped to get from anyone else-"

"Stop." Astrid shut her eyes. "Just stop."

Ingrid shut her mouth.

Astrid's stomach was turning violently and her once ice-cold body was now heating up as hot as the fire in the fireplace. She recalled from earlier that day how Hiccup was acting stranger than and she realized he must've known, must've realized she didn't know, and still didn't tell her. Now she felt like the idiot. She wanted to scream, she wanted to drive her axe straight through her mother's pitiful face, but in the end she could barely whisper, "How could you?"

Her mother broke. She started to cry. "I panicked, Astrid. I had no choice-"

"That's not an answer." There was a choice. There is always a choice. You're just weak.

"Doll-"

"Don't call me that."

"Please, Astrid-"

Astrid backed away steadily without breaking eye contact. She picked up her axe and shook her head, her blue eyes darkened with rage and betrayal. She could practically hear her mother's heart crack in two, but she wouldn't stay around to watch her unravel. She threw the door open and slammed it shut behind her, ignoring her her mother's pleas for her to come back.

I didn't intend for this to take such an upsetting turn, but what better way to start off a story than on an ominous note?

(Also I swore to myself I wouldn't start another story until I updates SaS, but who am I to withhold this work of art just because of the inevitability of my procrastination?)

Next Chapter: Hiccup better watch out and you can bet it's not because Santa's coming to town.